May 16, 2010

Bad Breath Found to be Related to Types of Bacteria Rather Than Bacterial Amount

Researchers in Japan investigated whether bad breath was caused by the types of bacteria found in people's mouths as opposed to the overall amount of bacteria. In their research which was published in the May 2010 journal of Applied and Environmental Microbiology they found that there exists four types of bacterial community compositions. The two parameters for bad breath (the concentration of volatile sulfur compounds in mouth air and the organoleptic score) was noticeably lower in one of the groups. In this group that had very low bad breath, there were significantly higher concentrations of Streptococcus, Granulicatella, Rothia, and Treponema than in the other groups.

These results clearly correlated the global composition of indigenous bacterial populations with the severity of oral malodor. Call this the "good" bacteria.

There results also suggest alternative strategies to improve bad breath by trying to modify the bacterial composition rather than pursuing treatments geared towards elimination (or decreasing overall amount) of bacteria which do not work.

Of note, there was another (earlier) study that found that eating yogurt improved bad breath which goes along with this idea of altering bacterial composition instead of eliminating it to improve bad breath.

Of course, all this assumes a person does not have cryptic fetid tonsillitis for which tonsillectomy or cryptolysis would be of greater benefit.

Read the research here.
Fauquier blog
Fauquier ENT

Dr. Christopher Chang is a private practice otolaryngology, head & neck surgeon specializing in the treatment of problems related to the ear, nose, and throat. Located in Warrenton, VA about 45 minutes west of Washington DC, he also provides inhalant allergy testing/treatment, hearing tests, and dispenses hearing aids.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I had fecal breath odor for YEARS. Talked to many doctors who I am sure thought that I was crazy....I finally had a friend who suffers too, send me a eBook he bought 5 or 6 months ago he ask me how his breath smelt and I didn't smell a thing. He said the eBook amongst much else had him stop eating dairy food/ soft drinks and coffee/tea. So I’m like reading it and doing all the stuff it says to do. Thinking this has to be bull. But after a few days my tongue started turning red and felt nice. I worked up the courage to ask a friend how my breath smelt and hes like I don’t smell anything. Now I’m thinking all those years of humiliation and I could have solved it ffs! There is a site about it called Oraltech Labs When I read the site I felt sorry for the guy as he clearly had a real tough time with his bad breath, which pretty much ruined his school years. At lest he found a way to beat his bad breath and is letting others know how. Post this every! where to help people!! Thanks


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